An unidentified, mystery respiratory ailment has killed three people at a private clinic about 800 miles from the Argentina’s capital of Buenos Aires.
It’s doing to the lungs what COVID does. But the total of nine patients infected have not tested positive for novel coronavirus. Or for flu, Hantavirus or more than two dozen other pathogens.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/U2UY5V5OYFCUVPKOMMT6T3Q5Z4.jpg)
“What these patients have in common is the severe respiratory condition with bilateral pneumonia and compromise in [x-ray] images very similar to COVID, but that is ruled out,” Luis Medina Ruiz, Tucumán’s minister of health, was quoted as saying Wednesday by the Buenos Aires Times.
Those infected included eight medical staff at the private clinic in San Miguel de Tucumán. The first patient died Monday, the second Wednesday and the third, a 70-year-old woman who may or may not be “patient zero,” died on Thursday.
Health officials there are monitoring the disease and analyzing other systems such as water and air conditioning units to rule out poisoning or environmental causes, and to check for possible legionella bacteria in the air conditioning duct, the U.K.’s Telegraph reported.
The symptoms cropped up at the intensive care unit of the private hospital between Aug. 18 and 22, according to an official report cited by publication. All patients had pneumonia in both lungs.
The health center is under isolation, and no new cases have been recorded since Aug. 22, officials said.
It’s too early to raise an alarm, health officials said.
“It’s obviously concerning, but we still need key information on transmission and hopefully [on the] underlying cause,” Devi Sridhar, chair of global health at Edinburgh University told The Telegraph.
Whether it turns out to be a new infectious agent or not, the situation highlights global interconnectedness, he added.
“This shows our collective vulnerability to dangerous pathogens,” Sridhar said. “An outbreak in any part of the world — if not quickly contained — can spread rapidly given air travel and trade.”
